NFC Communication with an Information Handling System Supplemented by a Management Controller and Advertised Virtual Tag Memory

ABSTRACT

Near Field Communication (NFC) supports server information handling system management through communication between a mobile information handling system and a baseboard management controller. Enhanced transfer by NFC of management information is provided by manipulating the NFC tag memory assigned for information transfer with the aid of a microcontroller coordinating NFC transfers at the baseboard management controller, such as with coordinated storage operations at a tag memory an supporting processors/microcontrollers. The microcontroller manages tag memory and/or system memory so that the portable information handling system writes and reads information beyond the capabilities of unaided tag memory.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled “NFC Communicationwith an Information Handling System Supplemented by a ManagementController” by inventors Arulnambi Raju and Sudhir V. Shetty, AttorneyDocket No. DC-102679.01, filed on even date herewith, describesexemplary methods and systems and is incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to the field of informationhandling system wireless communication, and more particularly to nearfield communication (NFC) with an information handling systemsupplemented by a management controller.

2. Description of the Related Art

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use such as financialtransaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage,or global communications. In addition, information handling systems mayinclude a variety of hardware and software components that may beconfigured to process, store, and communicate information and mayinclude one or more computer systems, data storage systems, andnetworking systems.

Many enterprises have turned to network-based “cloud” infrastructures tomanage information processing requirements. A typical cloudinfrastructure attempts to balance processing demands and processingresources by allocating processing tasks across generally generic serverinformation handling systems. For example, a typical cloudinfrastructure is a farm of server information handling systems thatreside in a datacenter with server tasks assigned through migration ofvirtual machines between physical resources. In such a cloudinfrastructure, the actual physical location of a virtual informationhandling systems is often difficult to track and generally irrelevant.Often, a datacenter will support multiple enterprises in different“virtual” cloud networking environments that run on the same physicalserver information handling systems.

One concern that arises with cloud networking is maintaining securityfor data associated with different entities that share hardwareresources. Generally, the cloud infrastructure uses data structures,encryption and password protection to maintain separation of datathrough network accesses. These techniques also help to restrict accessof data when an end user has a physical interface to server informationhandling systems within a datacenter, such as a datacenter technician.For instance, physical resources within a server information handlingsystem are often managed by a baseboard management controller (BMC) thatdoes not have access to virtual machines running on the serverinformation handling system. Data center technicians interact with theBMC through a management network interface or a direct cable connection.The BMC allows a datacenter technician to monitor the status of physicalresources and to configure the physical resources to interact with thecloud infrastructure, such as with network address and other settings.

Generally, communications with the BMC are kept secure and separate fromcommunications through the cloud. Restricting BMC communications helpsto prevent malicious accesses that could reconfigure a serverinformation handling system or cause damage to components within theserver information handling system. Typically, management networkcommunications take place though wired interfaces, such as an Ethernetcable that connects to a local area network (LAN). In some instances,BMC communications are supported through wireless communications, suchas a wireless local area network (WLAN). Generally, however, securityrequirements limit the ability to use WLAN communications with a serverinformation handling system and the management network associated with aBMC. Wireless networking in a server information handling system datacenter creates a security risk in that unauthorized individuals mightsniff wireless communications or even hack into the server through thewireless network.

One alternative to wireless networking in a server information handlingsystem data center to communicate with a BMC is to include a near fieldcommunication (NFC) device that interfaces with the BMC. Mobiletelephones that include NFC can communicate directly with the BMCthrough short range wireless signals that present minimal security risksince the NFC wireless signals do not carry to a distance that wouldextend beyond a typical datacenter secure area. However, NFC has limitedbandwidth for communicating information and generally requires placementof the two communicating NFC devices in close proximity to each other.For example, a typical NFC “tag” memory space has only 3k of flashmemory that is reloaded for each transmission or reception of data. As aresult, an end user generally has to hold a mobile telephone in closeproximity to a server information handling system NFC device for anextended time in order to communicate a meaningful amount ofinformation.

One difficulty that arises with management of server informationhandling systems by NFC is that some server management data changesfrequently and is thus constantly updated, such as system health andhardware logs. In order to ensure that the most recent data is availablefrom an NFC device, this data would need frequent updates to the tagmemory of the NFC device, which tends to wear internal flash memory usedfor tag memory. Other difficulties include ensuring that an NFCtransaction has proper authorization with the BMC and ensuring thatcontent is synchronized between NFC access to a BMC and other types ofaccess, such as through a conventional management network interfaceAlthough NFC transactions might be arranged to provide the same accessto management information at a BMC as is available through conventionalmanagement networks, NFC transaction tend to take more time thanconventional network communications and sometimes involve holding aportable information handling system in an awkward position within closeproximity to an NFC device that can lead to end user discomfort.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore a need has arisen for a system and method which supplements anNFC communication device with a management controller to increase NFCdata transmission efficiency.

A further need exists for a system and method which manages NFCtransactions through virtual tag file locations managed by a serverinformation handling system management subsystem to support reads by anexternal NFC device.

In accordance with the present invention, a system and method areprovided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problemsassociated with previous methods and systems for communication of datawith an NFC communication device. A microcontroller manages NFCtransceiver memory for reads and writes that selectively adapt NFCtransactions to a virtual tag size. An external NFC device usesselectable tag memory sizes advertised by the microcontroller managedNFC transceiver. Microcontroller memory is partitioned by a serverinformation handling system baseboard management controller (BMC) toprovide a virtual tag memory view for NFC reads and writes by theexternal NFC device.

More specifically, a server information handling system includes aserver management subsystem having a baseboard management controller(BMC) to manage processing components of the server information handlingsystem. An NFC device integrated with the server management subsysteminterfaces the BMC with an external NFC device of a portable informationhandling system, such as a smartphone, so that the portable informationhandling system performs management functions at the BMC with NFCcommunication transactions. A microcontroller interfaces the BMC withthe integrated NFC device and selectively modifies memory accessed by anNFC transceiver of the integrated NFC device to provide increased NFCtransaction sizes and transfer rates. Reading and writing cues providedas configuration information to an external NFC device define a tagmemory of greater than the actual tag memory associated with the NFCtransceiver. The microcontroller manages memory usage by the NFCtransceiver, such as by forwarding writes received by the NFCtransceiver to memory external to the tag memory and by providing theNFC transceiver information to respond to read requests from memoryexternal to the tag memory.

In one embodiment, a BMC defines file locations in a microcontrollermemory so that a virtual tag memory maps to physical memory locations inthe microcontroller. An external NFC device references the filelocations to select and retrieve desired management information with NFCtransactions serviced by a server subsystem NFC transceiver controlledby the microcontroller. The BMC defines file locations so thatmanagement information that is frequently updated, such as maintenancelogs for the server and the server components, are kept inmicrocontroller RAM while less frequently updated information, such asserver identification information, are kept in microcontroller flashmemory. In order to maintain concurrency of data in the microcontroller,data is locked during reads for NFC transactions so that writes are notmade to files when a read is in progress. Security is ensured byrequiring LDAP security, such as user name and password inputs, beforeNFC transactions that transfer server data are permitted.

The present invention provides a number of important technicaladvantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that NFCcommunications are performed more efficiently with more rapid transferrates and greater quantities of data transferred in a single NFCcommunication. A microcontroller manages NFC transfers with support frommemory outside the NFC device so that the effective memory of an NFC tagis practically unlimited. By coordinating reads and writes through anaddress translation, the microcontroller effectively creates a dualported memory for the NFC tag to support complex and rapid datatransfers for server information handling system configuration. Memorylocations in the microcontroller are mapped to a virtual tag view by aserver BMC so that the BMC and external NFC devices can read and writeselected data in efficient NFC transactions. By allocating differenttypes of information to persistent and non-persistent memory,interruptions to the BMC are reduced, such as when static informationlike IP addresses are requested that does not require BMC inputs. Thus,the BMC is better able to focus resources at management tasks withoutservicing the NFC transceiver for responses that the microcontrollerhandles on its own with persistently stored information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the samereference number throughout the several figures designates a like orsimilar element.

FIG. 1 depicts a server information handling system having managementsupport through an NFC interface with a portable information handlingsystem;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a server management subsystem with NFCinterface support;

FIG. 3 depicts a flow diagram of a process that provides concurrentaccess of NFC tag memory for information transfers;

FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of a process that provides an NFCinterface with support by memory external to tag memory;

FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram of a process that provides an NFCinterface to receive a write without storage at the tag memory;

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram of a process that provides an NFCinterface to send a write without storage at the tag memory;

FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of a server management subsystem thattranslates NFC transfers to memory external to tag memory by referenceto a virtual map;

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram of an example embodiment of memorymapping at an NFC microcontroller to transfer server managementinformation between a server BMC and an external NFC device;

FIG. 9 depicts a functional block diagram of NFC transfers with datalocked by microcontroller; and

FIG. 10 depicts a functional block diagram of secure NFC transfers at aserver BMC.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

NFC transactions are supported at a server information handling systemBMC with microcontroller memory managed by the BMC. For purposes of thisdisclosure, an information handling system may include anyinstrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute,classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch,store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilizeany form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific,control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling systemmay be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any othersuitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality,and price. The information handling system may include random accessmemory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/orother types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of theinformation handling system may include one or more disk drives, one ormore network ports for communicating with external devices as well asvarious input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, anda video display. The information handling system may also include one ormore buses operable to transmit communications between the varioushardware components.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a server information handling system 10 isdepicted having management support through an NFC interface with aportable information handling system 12. In the example embodiment,server information handling system 10 is disposed in a serverinformation handling system rack 14 at a slot 16. Rack 14 provides powerand communication infrastructure to a plurality of slots 16 to support aplurality of server information handling systems 10. Each serverinformation handling system 10 has a chassis 18 that holds processingcomponents for performing server processing functions, such as a one ormore central processing units (CPUs) 20 to execute instructions, randomaccess memory (RAM) 22 to store instructions, hard disk drives (HDD) 24to provide persistent storage, a chipset 26 having firmware tocoordinate operations of the processing components, and one or morenetwork interface cards (NIC) 28 to provide network communications. Abaseboard management controller (BMC) 30 manages operation of theprocessing components with communications supported through a managementnetwork interface, sometimes referred to as an out-of-band or managementnetwork. BMC 30 allows remote management of server operations, such asremote start-ups, remote shut downs, and remote firmware upgrades orother types of maintenance.

A near field communication (NFC) device 32 interfaces with BMC 30 toprovide server management support through NFC wireless transmissionsprovided by a portable information handling system 12. For example,portable information handling system 12 accepts management settingsthrough a touchscreen display 34 that presents an interface generated byan application 36 running on portable information handling system 12.Application 36 coordinates communication of server managementinformation through an NFC device 32 of portable information handlingsystem 12 to NFC device 32 of server information handling system 10.Although BMC 30 is capable of performing substantially the samemanagement tasks through NFC transactions as it can perform through amanagement network supported by a NIC 28, data transfer rates forconventional NFC transactions tends to take place at a slower pace withNFC transactions. To improve data transfer rates, NFC device 32 inserver information handling system 10 adjusts NFC transactions to occurmore efficiently both with and without prior coordination of NFC device32 and application 36 in portable information handling system 10. As anexample, typical NFC transactions are supported in a maximum of 10 KBincrements based upon the size of tag memory within each NFC device 32,however, server management NFC transactions are supported in 100 KB orgreater increments by, in essence, spoofing the NFC transceivers to viewavailable tag memory as greater than actual tag memory. Memory can bewritten in any size memory increments with a spoofing-type of memoryrolling pages mechanism in which tag physical memory is looped back onitself and re-used as the microcontroller reads incoming data from tagmemory locations. Although, in such an embodiment, tag memory has alimited physical size, the re-use of tag memory allows presentation of alarger virtual memory size to the external NFC device. Larger and moreefficient NFC transactions may be coordinated by compatible NFC devices32 that share transfer toolboxes, or may be induced from one device byproviding tag memory configuration information that differs from actualtag memory configuration, as set forth below.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram depicts a server managementsubsystem 38 with NFC interface support. BMC 30 controls managementfunctions at server management subsystem 38 and has access to systemmemory 40, which can include RAM or flash memory local to BMC 30, RAM orpersistent memory local to the managed server information handlingsystem, or network storage accessed through a network interface. Amicrocontroller 42 interfaces BMC 30 with NFC device 32 to coordinatemanagement functions performed through NFC transactions. NFC device 32includes an NFC transceiver 44 with a conventional tag memory 46 and NFCconfiguration information 48 to support conventional NFC transactions.For example, NFC devices 32 of server information handling system 10 andportable information handling system 12 exchange NFC configurationinformation 48 and then communicate data in increments indicated by thesize of tag memory 46.

Microcontroller 42 provides enhanced NFC transaction sizes and transferrates by selectively altering NFC configuration information 48 to havevalues different from the values used for access to tag memory 46. Inone embodiment, microcontroller 42 sets a flag to indicate theavailability of enhanced NFC transactions to application 36. Ifapplication 36 has logic to employ enhanced NFC transactions, theapplication 36 coordinates with microcontroller 42 to establishappropriate NFC transaction parameters. However, microcontroller 42effectively alters the nature of NFC transactions with server-side logicin the event that application 36 lacks inherent capabilities. In aconcurrent mode of operations, microcontroller 42 reads and writesinformation to tag 46 concurrent with NFC transceiver 44 reading andwriting information at tag 46 in support of NFC transactions. In theconcurrent mode of operations, microcontroller 42 sets tag size in NFCconfiguration 48 so that an external NFC device 32 reads and writes NFCtransactions in excess of the actual size of tag memory 46. As the NFCtransaction takes place at NFC transceiver 44, microcontroller 42accesses tag memory 46 to read and/or write information, thus allowingreuse of tag memory 46 during the NFC transaction. Reading and writingcues provided by NFC configuration information 48 include tag memoryaddress information that differs from actual tag memory addressinformation, such as address and size for a tag memory for any rangesupported by microcontroller 42, or selectable address ranges supportedby microcontroller 42. Reading and writing cues may be recognized by anexternal NFC device 32 as an indication of support for altered NFCtransactions to adapt the NFC transactions appropriately, or may simplybe adopted as the actual tag memory used by the external NFC device.

In one embodiment, microcontroller 42 manages tag memory 46 accesses forreads and writes by controlling information at buffers 50 that storeinformation between NFC transceiver 44 and tag memory 46. In a writeforwarding mode, tag writes are pushed from tag memory 46 (or directlyfrom buffer 50 before a write to tag memory 46) to an address rangeexternal to tag memory 46. For example, microcontroller 42 sets NFCconfiguration 48 to have a tag memory size in excess of the actual sizeof tag memory 46, and then pushes writes to the tag memory 46 directlyto memory external tag memory 46 (or to re-used tag memory) that hasadequate size for storing the NFC read or write transaction. Writeforwarding may send information to RAM or flash memory ofmicrocontroller 42, to memory associated with BMC 30 or even to networkmemory external to server information handling system 10. Similarly,microcontroller 42 coordinates a remote read mode so that NFC writesfrom NFC transceiver 44 are supported by memory external to tag memory46. For example, NFC configuration 48 has a larger tag memory size setthan is in fact available from tag memory 46, however, reads by anexternal NFC device 32 are supported by feeding information for the readfrom microcontroller 42 instead of or in addition to from tag memory 46.In combination, write forwarding and remote reads as set forth aboveallow an NFC device to have essentially an infinite virtual tag memorysize. To track NFC transactions, microcontroller 42 maintains a virtualto physical address space to remap blocks of physical tag memory to avirtual address space. By continually updating the map with read andwrite cues, microcontroller 42 defines an infinite tag memory thatrelies on reuse of tag memory blocks or use of memory external to tagmemory 46.

In one embodiment, a tag memory presents an infinite or very largervirtual tag memory size to an external device and maintains data duringNFC transactions by looping the tag memory page over itself. Forexample, a 10 byte tag memory presents itself as having an unlimited orvery large size, such as 1 MB. An external NFC device interfacing withthe tag memory uses tag memory with reads/writes through thephysically-available 10 bytes of memory. At the 11^(th) byte, tag memoryloops back to the first memory byte location, with data previouslywritten to that location already moved to memory outside the tag memory.The external NFC device reads/writes at the first byte through the10^(th) byte while viewing the tag memory as and 11^(th) through 20^(th)byte. The tag memory continues to loop its memory locations to provide amemory size needed by the external NFC device to complete a read/writetransaction. The microcontroller manages virtual tag memory size bymapping the physical memory address of the looped tag memory to alocation external to the tag memory. Alternatively, in one embodiment,tag memory itself automatically implements looping by reading andwriting to buffers as writes/reads take place to the tag memory. Readsand writes to tag memory are managed to ensure that data in a tag memorylocation is read or written by an NFC transaction before the memorylocation is re-used by a looping operation. For example, in oneembodiment an interrupt service routine (ISR) mechanism manages tagmemory location re-use. As soon as a defined amount data, such as adefined data block, is modified by an external NFC device, the tagmemory notifies an external microcontroller of the availability of thememory block. The microcontroller then asserts a GPIO to let the tagmemory know that the microcontroller is reading or writing, with theGPIO asserted while the microcontroller is active to ensure the tag willnot overwrite memory blocks in a looping operation. In an alternativeembodiment, a lock register is used for the tag memory to check beforeaccessing and overwriting existing data in a data block. Similarmechanisms may be used when a BMC or a microcontroller is trying toaccess data that is being modified by an external NFC device.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a flow diagram depicts a process that providesconcurrent access of NFC tag memory for information transfers. Theprocess starts at step 52 by sending NFC configuration information to anexternal NFC device that indicates concurrent access support, such as aflag or a tag memory size greater than the actual tag memory size. Atstep 54, a determination is made of whether a read or write transactionis requested that calls for concurrent access. If an external NFC devicerequests a read transaction, the process continues to step 56 to sendread information from the microcontroller to the tag memory forcommunication of the read information to the external NFC device by theNFC transceiver at step 58. At step 60, concurrent with communication ofthe read information by the NFC transceiver from the tag memory, themicrocontroller re-populates portions of the tag memory with additionalread information so that the transceiver may continue rolling throughtag memory repeatedly until the NFC read transaction is complete. Atstep 62, when the read transaction completes, the next transaction ismade available.

If at step 54 a write NFC transaction is indicated, the processcontinues to step 64 to send the write information form the external NFCdevice through the NFC transceiver to the tag memory. At step 66, thewrite information stored in the tag memory is sent from the tag memoryto the microcontroller as it is received by the NFC transceiver, thusfreeing tag memory to accept additional write information. At step 68,concurrent with writes of information to the tag memory by the NFCtransceiver, the microcontroller resets tag memory where information wastransferred to the microcontroller so that the external NFC device canwrite to locations in the tag memory that have already been used in theNFC transaction. Thus, an external NFC device writes to the NFCtransceiver based upon a tag memory size that is greater than the actualtag memory size and the microcontroller manages tag memory to reusememory blocks during the write transaction. The result of concurrentwrites and reads from a tag memory by both an NFC transceiver andmicrocontroller is a transition of tag memory into dual ported memorythat allows for rolling NFC transactions cumulatively greater thanavailable tag memory.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a flow diagram depicts a process that providesan NFC interface with support by memory external to tag memory. At step70, an NFC transaction is detected at an NFC transceiver so that readand write cues are enabled to effectively transition tag memorytransactions to support sizes and rates unavailable with the use of justtag memory. Cues are also available to let other entities know that aread/write is being performed. For example, a cue notifies themicrocontroller to read data so the microcontroller reads trail in aloop behind external NFC device writes. In the example embodiment of anexternal NFC device reading from a tag memory, the microcontroller canlead by writing new information in the memory while the external NFCdevice reads the tag memory in a trailing loop operation. At step 72,the NFC transceiver alerts the microcontroller of the pending NFCtransaction. At step 74, microcontroller memory is associated with theNFC transaction to support transactions of greater than that availablewith tag memory. At step 76, the microcontroller memory for the NFCtransaction is provided to the NFC transceiver for communication to theexternal NFC device, such as in the form of NFC configurationinformation. Microcontroller memory may be provided as a size of greaterthan the actual tag memory size, an addressed size to an addressexternal to the tag memory, or by selectable address ranges. At step 78,the microcontroller memory is used to support the NFC transaction in theplace of the tag memory so that the tag memory is not used in the NFCtransaction. In alternative embodiments, tag memory may be used, such asin a rolling store that is reused as described above or as part of theaddressed memory provided by the microcontroller.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram depicts a process that providesan NFC interface to receive a write without storage at the tag memory.In this write forwarding mode, when a tag is received at an NFCtransceiver, the transceiver pushes the write address and data to amicrocontroller selectable address range that provides memory beyondthat available from the tag memory. At step 80, a tag write is receivedat the NFC transceiver. In one embodiment, the sending NFC device sendsa tag that is greater than the tag memory of the receiving NFC devicebased upon a tag configuration provided by a microcontroller of thereceive NFC device. The microcontroller manages information received bythe NFC transceiver of the receiving NFC device to support NFCtransactions of greater than the tag memory size. At step 82, the tagwrite is pushed from the NFC transceiver to the microcontroller so thatthe NFC transaction can accept a write of information greater thanavailable tag memory space. The write forwarding may roll through tagmemory so that tag memory is reused during the write or may proceed fromthe NFC transceiver buffer directly to the microcontroller. As step 84,the tag write is stored in the microcontroller memory or other memoryaccessible by the microcontroller.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a flow diagram depicts a process that providesan NFC interface to write information from a first NFC device to asecond NFC device in response to a read request from the second NFCdevice without storage of the information at the tag memory. At step 86,a microcontroller memory location is provided as NFC configurationinformation from the first NFC device to the second NFC device, such asidentified as the tag memory. The microcontroller memory location maybe, for instance, a memory address and size or a range of addresses andsizes located in the microcontroller. At step 88, a read request by thesecond NFC device is serviced by requesting information by the NFCtransceiver of the first NFC device from the microcontroller based uponthe NFC configuration memory location. At step 90, information iswritten forward from the microcontroller memory to the NFC transceiverfor communication to the second NFC device in response to the readrequest. In one embodiment, the microcontroller writes to the NFCtransceiver buffer so that tag memory is not used for the forwarding ofthe information.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram depicts a server managementsubsystem 38 that translates NFC transfers to memory external to tagmemory 46 by reference to a virtual map 94. Microcontroller 42 includesa virtual map manager 92 to remap blocks of physical tag memory 46 to avirtual address space tracked in virtual map 94. Virtual map manager 92continually remaps blocks in cooperation with the read and write cues asset forth above to effectively create an infinitely sized tag. Anaddress translator 96 operating in cooperation with NFC transceiver 44ensures that information written from and read to NFC transceiver 44based upon address locations of tag memory 46 comes from and is sent tothe appropriate virtual locations.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a block diagram depicts an example embodimentof memory mapping at an NFC microcontroller 42 to transfer servermanagement information between a server BMC 30 and an external NFCdevice. BMC 30 interfaces with microcontroller 42 through a managementlink 98, such as an I2C link. BMC 30 obtains a virtual NFC tag memoryview in I2C offset 100 that presents files with a virtual storage rangeand size. BMC 30 writes and reads management information atmicrocontroller 42 by reference to the virtual NFC tag memory view 100.Actual memory transactions are mapped from the virtual NFC tag memoryview 100 to the microcontroller 42′s internal physical memory 102 basedupon a memory location definition set by a file location register 104,which maps each virtual memory files 106 to physical memory files 108.In the example embodiment, file location register 104 defines whethereach virtual memory file maps to physical memory file 108 innon-persistent RAM 110 or in persistent flash memory 112. BMC 30 definesthe file location register 104 values so that desired managementinformation is stored in desired file locations. An external NFC devicethat has file location register 104 values, obtained ahead of time orwith an NFC communication, is able to selectively download only desiredfiles by identify the desired files in an NFC communication. Forexample, an application running on a mobile phone may include the filelocation register for a BMC and use the file location register tocoordinate a more direct NFC transaction for desired information. Thus,in order to limit the time taken for an NFC transaction, a portableinformation handling system 12 identifies only the locations that aredesired or selects specific files, such as by an address rangeassociated with a file in the file location register, to have less thanall available management information communicated in an NFC transaction.

In one embodiment, BMC 30 defines file locations in file locationregister 104 so that management information is stored in RAM 110 orflash 112 based upon the frequency of updates made to the managementinformation. For example, basic identification information of serverinformation handling system that changes infrequently, such as IP andMAC addresses and a server component inventory, are stored in flash 112,while more frequently updated information, such as error and operationallogs for the server and health information and sub-system health on theserver, are stored in RAM 110. This arrangement helps to prolong thelife of microcontroller 42 and an associated NFC transceiver 44 byreducing wear at flash memory 112. Essentially, file location register104 defines a partition between persistent and non-persistent memory sothat microcontroller 42 acts as a virtual NFC tag memory with morefrequently updated information stored in RAM 110 as the information isupdated so that NFC transactions with most recent management informationare available as updates are made without burnout of flash memory byrepeated writes.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a functional block diagram depicts NFCtransfers with data locked by a microcontroller disposed in an NFCdevice 32. Locking files during NFC transactions ensures concurrency ofmanagement data by preventing writes on data while the data is beingtransferred in response to a read request. In the example embodiment,the data request is initiated at step 116 from portable informationhandling system 12 to NFC device 32 disposed within a server managementsubsystem, however, in alternative embodiments, the data request isinitiated from BMC 30. NFC device 32 at step 118 locks the requestedfile to prevent writes to the requested file. At step 120, BMC 30attempts to write to the requested file, such as with a log update, andat step 122 a write fail is returned to BMC 30. At step 124, such asconcurrent with the write attempt by BMC 30, portable informationhandling system 12 reads the requested file with an NFC transaction and,at step 126 a read success is returned. At step 128, the requested fileis unlocked at the successful read so that, at step 130, a write requestto the file by BMC 30 is accepted. In response to the BMC write request,at step 132 the requested file is locked and at step 134 a write successis returned to BMC 30. Finally at step 136, the requested file isunlocked to allow subsequent reads and writes.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a function block diagram depicts secure NFCtransfers at a server BMC 30. At initial setup, a secret value b isstored at portable information handling system 12, and two publicvalues, p(prime) and g(primitive root mod p), and a secret value a areused at BMC 30 to calculate public value A. At step 138, BMC 30 writesvalues p,g and A to NFC device 32, and at step 140 an NFC transferprovides values p,g and A to portable information handling system 12. Atstep 142, portable information handling system 12 calculates publicvalue B, at step 144, portable information handling system 12 computesshared secret value s and at step 146, portable information handlingsystem 12 encrypts credentials C into C′, such as an LDAP user name andpassword, using value s and configures an XML payload P. In oneembodiment, sensitive information is encrypted and payload P isdigitally signed. At step 148, portable information handling system 12writes an NFC transaction to NFC device 32 with values P,C′ and B. Atstep 150, BMC 150 retrieves values P, C′ and B, and applies the valuesto compute the shared secret value s at step 152, to decrypt C′ at step154, to authenticate C at step 156, and, if C authenticates, to applythe configuration XML payload P and post results of the payload back toNFC device 32 by a write at step 160. Once the results are posted,portable information handling system 12 obtains the payload with an NFCtransaction.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, it shouldbe understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can bemade hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information handling system comprising: achassis operable to support processing components; a processor disposedin the chassis and operable to execute instructions for processinginformation; memory disposed in the chassis and interfaced with theprocessor, the memory operable to store the instructions andinformation; a management controller disposed in the chassis andinterfaced with the processor, the management controller operable manageoperational conditions associated with processing components within thechassis including at least the processor; a near field communication(NFC) transceiver disposed in the chassis and operable to wirelesslycommunicate with an NFC device external to the chassis, the NFCtransceiver having a tag memory that stores information to transmit tothe external NFC device and information received from the external NFCdevice; and a microcontroller interfacing the management controller withthe near field communication transceiver, the microcontroller managingthe tag memory to adapt the NFC transceiver communications to a selectedof plural data transfer modes.
 2. The information handling system ofclaim 1 wherein the near field communication transceiver coordinatesselection of a data transfer mode with the external NFC device bycommunicating a tag memory size that is different than the actual tagmemory size.
 3. The information handling system of claim 2 wherein thetag memory size comprises a virtual memory mapped to a physical addressspace external to the tag memory.
 4. The information handling system ofclaim 3 wherein the virtual memory comprises a memory address and sizefor a predetermined range that the external NFC device interprets as thetag memory address and size.
 5. The information handling system of claim3 wherein the virtual memory comprises plural selectable address ranges,each of which is interpreted by the NFC device as the tag memory addressrange.
 6. The information handling system of claim 1 wherein the pluraldata transfer modes comprise a dual ported mode having themicrocontroller reading and writing a first portion of tag memoryconcurrently with the NFC transceiver reading and writing a secondportion of tag memory.
 7. The information handling system of claim 1wherein the plural data transfer modes comprise a write forward modehaving communication received at the NFC transceiver forwarded to awrite address external to the tag memory without writing thecommunications to the tag memory.
 8. The information handling system ofclaim 1 wherein the plural data transfer modes comprise a read forwardmode having communications transmitted from the NFC transmitter byforwarding information from a read address external to the tag memorywithout storing the information in the tag memory.
 9. A method forcommunication of information to a server information handling systemmanagement controller from an external information handling systemhaving a near field communication (NFC) device, the method comprising:exchanging NFC configuration information between the external NFCcommunication device and an NFC transceiver disposed in the server, theNFC transceiver having a tag memory, the configuration informationincluding tag memory configuration information of the tag memory of theNFC transceiver indicating a selected of plural data transfer modes; andcommunicating information between the external NFC communication deviceand the NFC transceiver according to the selected of the plural datatransfer modes as indicated by the tag memory configuration information.10. The method of claim 9 wherein the tag memory configurationinformation comprises a tag memory size that is different than theactual tag memory size associated with the NFC transceiver.
 11. Themethod of claim 10 wherein the tag memory size comprises a virtualmemory mapped to a physical address space external to the tag memory.12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: interpreting the virtualmemory at the external NFC communication device as the tag memory;writing information to the virtual memory with the external NFCcommunication device as a tag memory write; and sending the writeinformation from the NFC transceiver to a microcontroller for writing tomemory outside of the tag memory.
 13. The method of claim 12 whereinsending the write information further comprises sending the writeinformation from the external NFC communication device to themicrocontroller without storing the information in the tag memory. 14.The method of claim 11 further comprising: interpreting the virtualmemory at the external NFC communication device as a tag memory; readinginformation from the virtual memory with the external NFC communicationdevice as a tag memory; and sending the read information from a memoryexternal to the tag memory, to a microcontroller, to the NFC transceiverand by an NFC communication to the external NFC communication device.15. The method of claim 14 wherein sending the read information furthercomprises sending the read information from the microcontroller to theexternal NFC communication device without storing the read informationin the tag memory.
 16. A system for NFC transfers of information, thesystem comprising: a portable information handling system having an NFCcommunication device and an NFC application stored in non-transitorymemory, the NFC application operable to command the NFC communicationdevice to send information to another NFC communication device accordingto configuration information shared with the other NFC communicationdevice; and a server baseboard management controller operable to manageoperations of a server information handling system and having an NFCtransceiver operable to communicate information stored in a tag memory,the NFC transceiver managed by a microcontroller; wherein themicrocontroller manages configuration information sent to the NFCcommunication device to represent the tag memory with configurationinformation that differs from the actual configuration of the tagmemory.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein the actual tag memoryconfiguration is a first memory size and the represented tag memory isgreater than the actual memory size.
 18. The system of claim 16 whereinthe actual tag memory configuration is a memory location and therepresented tag memory location is external to the actual tag memory.19. The system of claim 16 further comprising a memory map managed bythe microcontroller to dynamically remap memory locations of the tagmemory for concurrent reads and writes sequentially performed throughthe tag memory addresses.
 20. The system of claim 16 wherein themicrocontroller is further operable to coordinate storage of informationin association with NFC transfers by the NFC transceiver by use ofmemory external to the tag memory and without storing the information inthe tag memory.